Past Episode: August 2012 Archives

Saturday August 4, 2012

The Storytelling Class

The Storytelling Class

An after-school storytelling project in a diverse, but divided, city school breaks cultural boundaries and creates community.

"An engaging and powerful resource for teaching about breaking cultural boundaries and creating community." Dr. James A. Banks, Chair in Diversity Studies, Founding Director for the Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington-Seattle

Located in Winnipeg's downtown core, Gordon Bell High School is probably the most culturally varied school in the city, with 58 different languages spoken by the student body. Many students are children who have arrived as refugees from various war torn areas of the world.

In an effort to build bridges of friendship and belonging across cultures and histories, teacher Marc Kuly initiated an after-school storytelling project whereby the immigrant students would share stories with their Canadian peers.

The catalyst for this cross-cultural interaction was the students' reading of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, a memoir of Beah's horrific time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war.

These voluntary after-school meetings take dramatic turns and reach their climax when Ishmael Beah and professional storyteller Laura Simms travel from New York to work with them. With their help the students learn to listen to each other and find the commonality that so long eluded them.

Categories: Docs, Past Episode

 

• October 2012
  • Sat., 27 – The Big Pitch 2012 - Battle for Alberta
     
  • Sat., 20 – Dan Mangan, What Happens Next?
     
  • Sat., 13 – One Love - Celebrating Jamaican Canadian Success Stories
     
• August 2012
  • Sat., 18 – The Big Pitch
     
  • Sat., 4 – The Storytelling Class
     
• July 2012
  • Sat., 28 – Our Voices
     
  • Sat., 21 – Rider Century: A Saskatchewan Story
     
  • Sat., 14 – Love, Props and the T. Dot
     
  • Sat., 7 – The Bluenose Legacy
     
• June 2012
  • Sat., 30 – Capital NDNs
     
  • Sat., 23 – East Coast Blues Summit
     
  • Sat., 16 – Mal'occhio: the Evil Eye
     
  • Sat., 9 – Ian Tyson: This is My Sky
     
  • Sat., 2 – The Storytelling Class
     
• May 2012
  • Sat., 26 – Sistema Revolution
     
  • Sat., 19 – My Dinner with Generation X
     
  • Sat., 12 – Unspeakable
     
  • Sat., 5 – Ron Hynes, Man of a Thousand Songs
     
• April 2012
  • Sat., 28 – Run
     
  • Sat., 21 – Studio 12: Jorane
     
  • Sat., 14 – The Big Pitch
     
  • Sat., 7 – Winning America: A Canadian Band Trying to Make it in the States
     
• March 2012
  • Sat., 17 – Barney Bentall & Friends in Concert
     
  • Sat., 10 – Our Voices
     
  • Thu., 1 – Sat. March 3, 2012 / Lost Years, Part 2
     
• February 2012
  • Thu., 16 – Sat. February 18, 2012 / Lost Years, Part 1
     
• September 2011
  • Tue., 27 – Sat. Oct 8th 2011 / From C to C: Chinese Canadian Stories of Migration